Equipping Church Leaders!
We had the wonderful privilege of putting on two Church Leadership Seminars in the mountains of Pays Pourri, which is home to about 16,000 people.
There are many churches there, but they have a very limited understanding of the Gospel. Most were started years ago by a missionary from Jacmel, a city on the south coast of Haiti. Now he comes about once a year to do all the baptisms and marriages. There has been very little teaching and discipleship, and many of the church leaders can't read.
We were able to put on two, four day seminars for the pastors, deacons, and teachers from many churches and denominations. The first one was in northern Pays Pourri, where attendees walked up to three hours to participate. Of the 89 leaders that participated, 26 were illiterate. These illiterate ones are the actual pastors, while the literate ones are younger Sunday School teachers, etc.
As Charles Dorneus, a 70 year-old deacon who walked 2 hours to participate said, "The seminar is very, very good! The churches in the area where I live do not have anything like this. Now we understand the Gospel better. It opens our minds." He also unashamedly told us that earlier in his life he was a church secretary while still a Catholic. In Haiti, Catholicism has mixed with voodoo.
We held the second seminar in southern Pays Pourri. Ninety people participated, even though only 65 applied.
Here is a list of the sessions and teachers that we had:
There are many churches there, but they have a very limited understanding of the Gospel. Most were started years ago by a missionary from Jacmel, a city on the south coast of Haiti. Now he comes about once a year to do all the baptisms and marriages. There has been very little teaching and discipleship, and many of the church leaders can't read.
We were able to put on two, four day seminars for the pastors, deacons, and teachers from many churches and denominations. The first one was in northern Pays Pourri, where attendees walked up to three hours to participate. Of the 89 leaders that participated, 26 were illiterate. These illiterate ones are the actual pastors, while the literate ones are younger Sunday School teachers, etc.
As Charles Dorneus, a 70 year-old deacon who walked 2 hours to participate said, "The seminar is very, very good! The churches in the area where I live do not have anything like this. Now we understand the Gospel better. It opens our minds." He also unashamedly told us that earlier in his life he was a church secretary while still a Catholic. In Haiti, Catholicism has mixed with voodoo.
We held the second seminar in southern Pays Pourri. Ninety people participated, even though only 65 applied.
Here is a list of the sessions and teachers that we had:
- Mike Martin - Matthew 5-7, stressing the importance of religion from the heart
- Andy Eversole - Basic Christian Theology
- Ric Gullman - Good Christian Leadership
- Emanual Schrock - "Clear Salvation"
